The double slit experiment led to an extreme paradigm shift in modern physics. Prior to this experiment, conventional physics stated that matter existed as a particle with an absolute point in space at any given time. After this experiment, physicists could see that matter existed as both a particle and a WAVE. This experiment involved firing electrons through a gun toward a board with two slits in it. When this is done with light it produces an interference pattern on the board behind it. This is because light exists as a wave, not a particle. These waves interact with each other to form a pattern. When matter was fired at the two slits, in the form of electrons, scientists expected to see two lines on the other side because they believed it to be a particle, not a wave like light. Contrary to this hypothesis, the electrons produced an interference pattern similar to that produced by light. This went entirely against the beliefs of conventional physics. Physicists were eager to explain this strange phenomenon so they attempted to observe the electron just before it enters the two slits. To their astonishment, it formed the normal, two slit pattern that they originally predicted. This led them to the conclusion that the mere act of observing matter fundamentally changes it's nature in some way and when it is not observed, matter exists as a wave of probablities. De Broglie Wavelength
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